To let go of the past

I got to the classroom, took a seat and simply stared out the window without a care in the world, but even as I was doing that, in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but remember what I had told Akemi and how I had reacted to her words.

I knew that I couldn't let such a miniscule thing get to me, but whenever I remembered that moment... The memories would haunt me, and scenes crossed my mind reminding me about everything I had to go through because of her.

"Unforgivable..."

After a few minutes passed, the door opened up once more and out of pure instinct, I glanced over and saw that it was none other than Akemi herself.

She managed to notice me gazing at her for that brief moment and when she did, I noticed the intent of her calling out to me, but before it could happen, some of her friends walked up to her and started dragging her into a small morning conversation which made her falter a bit.

But even then, she was still capable of maintaining a kind and non-anxious mood which was more than enough to appease the girls close to her.

"That's better"

I wasn't in the mood to continue the conversation that we had had between the both of us for the reason that I knew that things would go bad not simply for me, but for those who were close to me.

Once she had finished talking with the girls, the professor came in and started giving us the same morning routine which once more, stopped her from calling out to me.

The rest of the morning half went by just the same as any other day and as soon as the bell started ringing for lunch time, I got up from my seat and immediately made my way out of the classroom and towards the meeting spot with the others.

Once I arrived at the meeting spot, I noticed that I was the first one there which wasn't surprising since I had practically bolted towards the rooftop without a care in the world.

"Finally... Some peace and quiet"

I took in a deep breath and exhaled. The action alone was more than enough to make me feel even better than I had been at the start of the day.

As I was relaxing up in the rooftop, I suddenly heard the door to the rooftop open up and almost out of pure instinct alone, I braced for the worst to happen, but to my surprise, I didn't need to act like that.

"You're here early aren't you, Tadao-senpai?"

"Yeah, I thought about getting here early just in case someone else tried to get up here first"

"And what would you have done if someone else was already here?"

"First of all, almost nobody comes up here and second of all, I think that the mere sight of me up here would most likely make anyone else run away out of pure disgust of seeing me"

"You really make yourself out to be the bad guy in this situation, don't you?"

"That's because I am... At least in everyone else's eyes"

"..."

"What?"

When I glanced over at her, I couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be a bit bothered about something, but even then, I wasn't that close to her to actually go ahead and ask if anything was wrong.

"I really hate that"

"Hate what?"

"When you say those things about you, I can't stand it one bit"

"But why...? This is something that I deal with, you shouldn't be bothered by it one bit"

"But I am bothered by it... Because of what happened, you've started seeing yourself as a nuisance to others as well as thinking that you're not meant to be here"

"It's the truth, or at least it was back then. Now, nobody pays any attention to me which is kind of good in off itself to be perfectly honest with you"

"It's not good..."

"If you think about it-"

"When I heard everything that you were going through back then... I wanted to do something for you, but I never could do anything to help you out and I hated myself for that, but now..."

Before I knew it, she inched herself closer to me which made me unconsciously back up a bit, but even then, she moved closer and closer to the point where my back was up against the wall with no escape whatsoever.

"Now I can help you out, senpai... And I want you to rely on me with anything at all"

"..."

Hearing her declare such a thing was doubtful, but the way she looked as she said those words was more than enough to make me change my opinion slightly.

"This girl..." I stared into her eyes for a brief moment and then proceeded to let out a small chuckle.

"W-What's so funny?!"

"Nothing... I just didn't expect to have such a clingy and obnoxious junior, that's all"

"I-I-I'm not obnoxious!"

"But you don't deny the clingy part?"

"W-Well..." She started fidgeting around in place for a bit and just when she was about to speak up, the door to the rooftop opened up once more.

"Well, well, what do we have here~?"

Of course, the voice was none other than my little sister's and upon noticing the wide grin on her face, I decided to dismiss everything that was happening.

"She was just being an extra clingy and worried junior, that's all"

"I see, that really does fit her perfectly"

"Would the both of you please stop saying such things about me when I'm right here?!"

The both of us chuckled and with that out of the way, Yuki moved back a bit and thus the three of us started eating without a care int he world.

I didn't try to broach on the topic at all because I knew that such a thing was something that I didn't need to be worried about at all. I didn't want to go back to how I was back then, I just wanted to continue on with my life without having to worry about such a thing happening again.

Was it because I didn't want to be hurt again or was it simply because I didn't want to deal with any of that again? I didn't know the answer to those questions myself and regardless of if I did or not, I didn't want to think about it at all.

When we finished having our lunch, I noticed that we still had time before we needed to head on back to class.

"So, what was happening before I got here?"

"Nothing really"

Just when I had said those words, I felt Yuki elbow my side without a care in the world. I glanced over at her, but she simply continued acting as if nothing had happened at all.

"What happened with Akemi, brother?"

"Nothing of importance to be honest with you"

"..."

She already knew that whenever I would answer in such a way, it meant that I didn't want to broach on the subject anymore, but for some reason, she didn't want to leave it at that.

"What happened with her, brother?"

"..."

"I know that you're hiding something"

"She wanted to apologize, that's all" "But I declined the apology and just left"

"I see..."

She didn't seem mad with me, but at the same time, she did seem a bit disappointed with me which I couldn't blame her, but at the same time, she understood why I had done that.

"I'm guessing that means things are back to the way they were, right?"

"Yeah, they are"

"I see..." She let out a sigh and then glanced over at Yuki "That means you still have a chance~"

"H-Huh?!"

I stared at the both of them for a bit and sighed "It's good to see that they're both such good friends"

All the while the thought crossed my mind, I was watching them discussing amongst themselves about something and as I did so, I glanced down from the rooftop and saw Akemi walking alongside some of her friends.

But from the way she looked, I could tell that she was still thinking about what had happened between the both of us "I guess she got affected by it"

I shrugged my shoulders and sighed "Doesn't matter to me. I just want to live out my life as I please"

"What was that Tadao-senpai?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it"

Once that was out of the way, a few more minutes passed and the bell started ringing, signaling that break was almost over and with that, we made our way towards our respective classrooms.